Screven, barefoot in the mud

There I was on a soggy, muddy, rainy live shot for CBS 6 News during the outcome of one of the most notorious courtroom trials ever seen in Albany County. It was a very serious moment, but I was in the middle of an almost laugh riot.

It was the day in February 2000 that a jury had reached a verdict in the case of four New York City cops charged with second degree murder and criminally negligent homicide in the 1999 death of Amadou Diallo of the Bronx. Diallo was shot at 41 times by police who approached him outside his Bronx apartment. Nineteen of those bullets found their mark. Police thought Diallo had a gun in his hand, but it turned out he was carrying a wallet. Before the trial, I traveled to the Bronx and saw the doorway and the bullet holes from the confrontation. The case was so provocative, so notorious, that it was moved from the city to Albany County, as defense attorneys sought an unbiased jury pool.

The trial turned the downtown Albany courthouse, and nearby Academy Park, into an encampment of police, protesters and news media from across the country. There were satellite trucks perched everywhere around the park as millions waited for the outcome of the racially tinged trial. See this archived Times Union story.

Amadou Diallo

Then suddenly word spread quickly that a verdict was in. My CBS 6 colleague Judy Sanders was covering the trial. I was there as a backup reporter. Judy was inside the courtroom but reporters were not allowed to leave while the jury produced a verdict. I was situated outside as the rain continued to come down in buckets. So producers decided I had to deliver verdict details live from the scene in front of a camera poised in the middle of a park turned into mud hole. There were other TV crews from other stations positioned around me.

So as I moved toward the camera for the 5 o’clock broadcast. as the rain continued to drench everybody, I stepped gingerly toward the camera set up and lights. Suddenly as I stepped, the mud literally sucked my right shoe off of my foot and the shoe became cemented in mud six inches deep. I only had moments to make it ten feet in front of the camera and I could not pull the shoe from the mud! So the only thing I could do was hobble in the mud with only one shoe on. I got to the camera and stood there balancing in the mud -_ one foot clad only in a sock plunged in icky unpleasant mud — seconds before I had to deliver the news that the cops had been acquitted. My personal circus betrayed the deadly serious events going on inside the courthouse.

Moments later my live shot was over and I was laughing deeply at how ludicrous the situation was. I ‘tipped’ over to where my shoe was still encased in mud and rain. I pulled and pulled and finally plucked the shoe from the ground while a very understanding cameraman somehow avoided breaking into hysterics. I had to do another live shot in a few moments but my shoe had so much mud on it that it was impossible to put on. So I hobbled again in the mud back to camera position. I dropped the shoe into the crud, put my muddy foot on the top of my ruined shoe , and did my extemporaneous report. I was drenched and muddy and trying to be dignified. So much for the ‘glamour’ of being a TV news reporter!

No one watching at home had any idea of the ‘Three Stooges’ moment I had just endured. Needless to say, the shoes never saw another broadcast.

Ken Screven

17 Responses

Now that’s what I call a muckraker! Hopefully the station reimbursed you for the shoes! If there isn’t one, there should be an Emmy for “best live remote TV reporting – while on one foot.” Or something to that effect.
Your story of finding some levity amidst the graveness of the Diallo shooting trial supports the previous point I made in your first blog post re. you & Brunner at the Ramahlo trial.

I’ve already had my retirement party and it didn’t make into the tape. but none of what I described was taped-no one watching ever knew what happened! BTW…my retirement tape is included on this blog under the 1st posting “No I;m not dead’. Take a look. Thanks for reading the blog.

“Quiet Ken” – true dat! I remember you always seemed to handle yourself as a pro & a gentleman on a number of stories we both happened to cover. To that point, during the Ramahlo murder trial’s “media verdict vigil” that I’ve referenced a couple of times, you never needed to say anything on that one particular day in question… Your widening eyes said it all to the rest of us reporters as we watched you discover WNYT’s news crew had hooked up a cable between their news truck and the tiny TV monitor showing the court room’s proceedings. Classic Screven!

Thanks Tom….that Ramahlo trial was something! Were you in court when Stew Jones brought out Mrs. R’s heart in a container? That was truly unprecedented..and years later he told me the case was being taught in law schools. Notorious. I remember that moment vividly. Maybe I’ll blog about it, thanks for reading!

The Diallo trial: one that still causes nausea when I think about what went down. I met Mrs. Diallo during a Crime Victims Remembrance Ceremony-What an amazingly strong woman!!
That is too funny, Great that you could keep your composure,especially with all that was happening around you… shows your skill in front of the camera!!

When the going gets tough, is when tough get going – news reporting isn’t the same without you Ken – feels like I’m watch a lead monologue, or ET, or Fashion Police or Comedy Central instead of the news. Everyone reports the same stories exactly the same as the other channels – is it one writer for all? I’ll be looking to read more from you and I’m definitely telling everyone I know to look for the “comeback Ken”.

I sure was, Ken! Classic courtroom theater, E. Stewart Jones-style. Funny thing is, when he held up that container holding her heart, for a few seconds all I could think about was how it looked like one of my mother’s old Tupperware containers.

Oh absolutely Tom..tupperware. It sucked all the air out of the room! Major theater! And it worked on the jury. He was convicted on the lesser charge if I recall. Those courtroom cases were something..

Kenneth! I was producing that night (not sure now if I did the 5pm newscast, the cut-in, or both) and never had any idea you’d lost your shoe! I do remember that we couldn’t get to Judy and that our legal expert didn’t make it to the truck on time, but you and Koenig were both ready to go with a report and commentary…and no one at home knew we’d been in a panic in the studio moments before we hit air. 🙂